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      10-30-2012, 03:26 PM   #1
pacecapt
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F25 LED Bulb Error Fix.

Problem, I have not been able to find much about replacing the OEM incandescent turn and brake bulbs with LED’s. Like many I was disappointed that my new X3 did not come with LED’s for the turn signals and brake lights (My two year older F10 does have them) so I started pulling together as much info from all the forums I could find and then started filling in the holes. I have read good and bad about Error Free LED Bulbs and did not wish to cut any wires to add load resistors, so I looked into coding as an alternative (I just started coding on both my FXX vehicles with great success).

Result, I am 99% sure I have figured out the codes which check for front & rear turn signals, brake lights, fog lights and reverse light errors on my F25. I tried it this afternoon by removing a bulb then coding that particular bulb to “not active” and it worked, the BC warning and fast flash rate both went away immediately. Now I am going to order regular LED bulbs and see if there are any problems. If this works I will post the codes for others to use.
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      10-31-2012, 01:18 AM   #2
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going to follow you on this one ... A bit confused . ???
I cant just get the LED with standard base and use them ?
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      10-31-2012, 02:12 AM   #3
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Sounds great, I was thinking about doing the same but didn't know coding could fix that. I've already coded all the other features I want, so doing this too wouldn't be a big deal. Definitely post up your results.

The other thing to check would be the cold-diagnosis. Basically even when the lights aren't on the body computer sends very quick, low-voltage pulses to the bulbs to check and see if they are there and not burnt out. With normal bulbs you can't see these pulses but with LEDs you can see them flashing even when they are supposed to be off. I would think if you disable this in the computer it wouldn't do it, but check to make sure.
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      10-31-2012, 03:46 AM   #4
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Great to hear that you are going to look into this pacecapt. well done.

I will also follow this thread with great interest.
I have changed my current car (Alfa 159 Q4) to LED for the side lights and had to do it with load resistors

keep up the good work.
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      10-31-2012, 08:47 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyvern View Post
going to follow you on this one ... A bit confused . ???
I cant just get the LED with standard base and use them ?
Wyvern, this is more than just buying a bulb and installing it, the computer in the OEM configuration is looking for standard incandescent bulb wattage (resistance) which is higher than LED's pull. If it does not detect that wattage, (thinking you have a bulb out) then it gives you an error plus "fast flashes" the other bulbs. Normally to fix this you would install a Load resistor (thus tricking the computer into thinking you have a standard bulb) or installing an "error free" bulb with a built in LR. I call this process a "hardware" fix. I am trying to code out the errors using a "software" fix thus allowing me to use any 7507 bulb for the front and 7506 for the rear. If you have researched you will find many bulbs but very few with all the attributes to properly do the HW fix on the F25.
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      10-31-2012, 09:17 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ReturnZero View Post
Sounds great, I was thinking about doing the same but didn't know coding could fix that. I've already coded all the other features I want, so doing this too wouldn't be a big deal. Definitely post up your results.

The other thing to check would be the cold-diagnosis. Basically even when the lights aren't on the body computer sends very quick, low-voltage pulses to the bulbs to check and see if they are there and not burnt out. With normal bulbs you can't see these pulses but with LEDs you can see them flashing even when they are supposed to be off. I would think if you disable this in the computer it wouldn't do it, but check to make sure.
Return Zero, I think I have coded out both the warm and cold checks. But there might be others and I can't do any more checks until I get my new bulbs.
If you have the time and patience all the coding I have found/done is in the FRM module. There are eleven coding lines for each bulb those coding lines all begin with AUSG_(00 thru 35). I used info from other forums, Google Translate and my own analysis to determine which lines I needed to change (I have not figured out all the bulbs yet but I did get the ones I needed). Most bulbs have a 2 or 3 letter designation followed by L or R (left/right), HL/HR (rear left/rear right) or VL/VR (front left/front right). Here are the codes I have researched: NSW (Front Fog Light), NSL (Rear Fog Light), BL (Brake Light), FRA (Turn Signal), RFS (Reverse Light). There are many I have not deciphered but I believe WBL are the Rear LED Strips on HID equipped F25's. There is also a code line for each bulb (XX_IS LED) which may also need to be changed. If you work this and learn anything please post as I see this as a group effort!
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      10-31-2012, 05:13 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacecapt View Post
Wyvern, this is more than just buying a bulb and installing it, the computer in the OEM configuration is looking for standard incandescent bulb wattage (resistance) which is higher than LED's pull. If it does not detect that wattage, (thinking you have a bulb out) then it gives you an error plus "fast flashes" the other bulbs. Normally to fix this you would install a Load resistor (thus tricking the computer into thinking you have a standard bulb) or installing an "error free" bulb with a built in LR. I call this process a "hardware" fix. I am trying to code out the errors using a "software" fix thus allowing me to use any 7507 bulb for the front and 7506 for the rear. If you have researched you will find many bulbs but very few with all the attributes to properly do the HW fix on the F25.
Thank you . wow ... this machine is much more sophisticated than my other rides
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      10-31-2012, 05:32 PM   #8
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Yes, it isn't your daddy or grandad's Ford. Most vehicles today have similar features in fact my 10 year old Mazda gives me a the same error when a bulb is out, but that is an easy/inexpensive fix by changing out the Flasher Relay! No Computer.
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      11-01-2012, 02:58 PM   #9
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Also interested on the LED bulbs:
I have been testing some bulbs for the flasher (to replace 7506 or 7507 / BA15S or BAU15s bulbs) but all the LEDs I found so far are actually unsatisfied: they are not bright enough, worse than the original 21W incandescent lamp. For the LED bulb error message “issues” I been using parallel resistors and luckily in my 2011 X3 resistors are needed only for the rear flasher bulbs.

Many web stores advertise their bulbs to be “super bright e.g. 8W LED BULB” like the example here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280709475309...ht_2820wt_1077
Actually that amber bulb linked above uses only 3.1 to 3.2 watts. And the LEDs in the bulb do not even get all that power because part of the power is consumed anyway by the driver electronics inside the bulb. The luminous flux of that LED bulb is obviously less than 150 lumens when the “original” 7506 and 7507 incandescent bulbs produce 460 and 280 lm.

So where to find bright enough LED bulbs to replace the original 7506 and 7507?

I have not found such LED bulbs yet so I am in the process of building bulbs for myself. My raw material for the flasher bulbs are:
- bright amber LED components: http://www.luxeonstar.com/PC-Amber-5...r-05-l0000.htm, three such LEDs for one bulb producing 3 x 130 lm (390 lm total with “pure” 6.2W of LED power per bulb)
- aluminum U profile 13mm x 10mm x 1.6mm
- for tail lights: BMW X3 spare part 63217288198 “Bulb socket, rear light side panel”, two pieces
- for front lights: BMW X3 spare part 63117287863 “Bulb socket, turn indicator”, two pieces
- four pieces of 700mA/14W LED constant current power modules from “XP Power”
- some screws and other small staff..

But as said: eager to know and get info on “commercial” LED bulbs (…bright enough).
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      11-01-2012, 05:12 PM   #10
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I purchased mine (don't have them yet) through www.superbrightleds.com. 18 SMD Amber for the front and 45 SMD Red for the rear. We shall see how bright they are!
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      11-01-2012, 10:49 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacecapt View Post
I purchased mine (don't have them yet) through www.superbrightleds.com. 18 SMD Amber for the front and 45 SMD Red for the rear. We shall see how bright they are!
Take lots of photos/videos. If they look good I'll order immediately.
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      11-03-2012, 11:38 AM   #12
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I have had great success in coding out the errors so that I could use any LED bulb that will fit the socket. I installed Superbrightleds.com bulbs in the front and rear. The rear bulbs are significantly brighter and more intense than the stock bulbs. The front were about the same as the stock but I am exchanging them for two 7506 bulbs (just like the rear only Amber) as they are much brighter. I have to modify the 7506 bulbs for the front sockets by grinding off one of the pins. I have alread done it with a stock bulb and it holds just fine. Here are the product codes for the bulbs I purchased, I have attempted to upload pictures and video but it keeps erroring out on me so the info and my word will have to do for now.

Rear: Red 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-R45-T)
Front: Amber 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-A45-T)
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      11-03-2012, 12:02 PM   #13
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Pace, where applicable, try push in bulbs in both orientations to make sure its just not a polarity issue saying no bulb. I've bought 921_9W_W_6K from VLEDs for the reverse lights and in one direction got no light and a bulb out error and the other direction got light and no bulb out error. These are 9W vs the standard 12W but apparently are close enough to not trip anything. This same item also works for the F10 5-series with no issue, but when I went to get a second set to complete the install, they were sold out

I also purchased 7507_20_P_A from the same site, but that did generate an error and I haven't set up my laptop with April01's coding cable yet to run through the LCM to turn things off. Great work so far
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      11-03-2012, 01:29 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacecapt View Post
I have had great success in coding out the errors so that I could use any LED bulb that will fit the socket. I installed Superbrightleds.com bulbs in the front and rear. The rear bulbs are significantly brighter and more intense than the stock bulbs. The front were about the same as the stock but I am exchanging them for two 7506 bulbs (just like the rear only Amber) as they are much brighter. I have to modify the 7506 bulbs for the front sockets by grinding off one of the pins. I have alread done it with a stock bulb and it holds just fine. Here are the product codes for the bulbs I purchased, I have attempted to upload pictures and video but it keeps erroring out on me so the info and my word will have to do for now.

Rear: Red 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-R45-T)
Front: Amber 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-A45-T)
Very cool. So did you get two sets of the rear ones, one for the turn signal and one for the brake light?
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      11-03-2012, 04:53 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacecapt View Post
I have had great success in coding out the errors so that I could use any LED bulb that will fit the socket. I installed Superbrightleds.com bulbs in the front and rear. The rear bulbs are significantly brighter and more intense than the stock bulbs. The front were about the same as the stock but I am exchanging them for two 7506 bulbs (just like the rear only Amber) as they are much brighter. I have to modify the 7506 bulbs for the front sockets by grinding off one of the pins. I have alread done it with a stock bulb and it holds just fine. Here are the product codes for the bulbs I purchased, I have attempted to upload pictures and video but it keeps erroring out on me so the info and my word will have to do for now.

Rear: Red 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-R45-T)
Front: Amber 48 SMD (7506) non error free (Part Number: 1156-A45-T)
Well done.
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      11-04-2012, 09:26 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E60orBust View Post
Pace, where applicable, try push in bulbs in both orientations to make sure its just not a polarity issue saying no bulb. I've bought 921_9W_W_6K from VLEDs for the reverse lights and in one direction got no light and a bulb out error and the other direction got light and no bulb out error. These are 9W vs the standard 12W but apparently are close enough to not trip anything. This same item also works for the F10 5-series with no issue, but when I went to get a second set to complete the install, they were sold out

I also purchased 7507_20_P_A from the same site, but that did generate an error and I haven't set up my laptop with April01's coding cable yet to run through the LCM to turn things off. Great work so far
Thanks, but I have not had any polarity issues with my bulbs they are working fine.
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      11-04-2012, 11:31 AM   #17
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It seems that I have some kind compulsion to change all bulbs to LED in my X3 ...and the flasher bulbs have been the most challenging:

So I ended up to build my own LED bulbs both for the front and rear flasher bulbs using BMW X3 spare parts as "base". The used LED components are Luxeon Rebel 132lm@700mA (amber colour) on a 10mm x 10mm metal plate. When using three such LEDs for one flasher bulb you get 390 lm which is adequate for the flasher use and one bulb then uses 6.4 wats (from which LEDs use roughly 5.9 watts). I have added parallel resistors to avoid the bulb monitoring errors, I placed the resistors in back under the side covers of the boot (where you get also good access to cabling towards the rear light assembly).

Figure 1 and 2 shows the bulb for the front flasher built on BMW spare part nr 63117287863 “Bulb socket, turn indicator" and figures 3 and 4 the bulb for rear flasher built on BMW spare part nr 63217288198 “Bulb socket, rear light side panel”.

My cars is the X3(F25) "european model" so for example the flasher bulbs are only for flasher use, they are never switched on continously ...and there may be some other differencies to the US model in addition...
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      11-04-2012, 01:02 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacecapt View Post
Problem, I have not been able to find much about replacing the OEM incandescent turn and brake bulbs with LED’s. Like many I was disappointed that my new X3 did not come with LED’s for the turn signals and brake lights (My two year older F10 does have them) so I started pulling together as much info from all the forums I could find and then started filling in the holes. I have read good and bad about Error Free LED Bulbs and did not wish to cut any wires to add load resistors, so I looked into coding as an alternative (I just started coding on both my FXX vehicles with great success).

Result, I am 99% sure I have figured out the codes which check for front & rear turn signals, brake lights, fog lights and reverse light errors on my F25. I tried it this afternoon by removing a bulb then coding that particular bulb to “not active” and it worked, the BC warning and fast flash rate both went away immediately. Now I am going to order regular LED bulbs and see if there are any problems. If this works I will post the codes for others to use.
I am attaching an Excel Spreadsheet with the coding fixes for LED Bulb Errors, using this fix you can install any LED bulb that fits the socket. Coding was done using BMW E-Sys Software and Cable that I purchased from April1. I started coding about 2 months ago after discovering that this was an option to personalize my F10 and F25 BMW’s. This posting is not about “how to code” but will give those coders the directions to fix the bulb errors. This sheet only contains the codes I changed, I was able to figure out the nomenclature for some of the bulbs and I will list those below.
NSW: Front Fog Lights
NSL: Rear Fog Lights
RFS: Reverse Lights
BL: Brake Lights
FRA_HL or HR: Rear Turn Signals (Left or Right)
FRA_VL or VR: Front Turn Signals (Left or Right)
WBL: I am uncertain but believe this is the Rear LED Brake Strips on HID equipped F25’s.
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File Type: pdf F25 LED Bulb Error Coding.pdf (71.2 KB, 4786 views)
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      11-04-2012, 01:03 PM   #19
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Awesome, this will be perfect.

Did you do the side markers too, or are you planning on doing those? Or are they already LED?
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      11-04-2012, 01:07 PM   #20
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They are already LED's, I have no plans to change them. I am changing the Front Fog Lights to 120 SMD LED's.
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      11-16-2012, 01:55 AM   #21
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Here is a video comparison of the new LEDs and the original:



And some photos, you can see I used amber bulbs for the turn signals so they light up amber behind the red lens. They are very bright, and I'm not at all worried about them during the day.

In the last photo of the front of the truck, the LED is on the left and the original bulb is on the right.
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      11-16-2012, 07:29 AM   #22
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I replaced my OEM front turn signal with the amber silver coated bulbs. Looks great and very cheap at Amazon.
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